My New Neighbour
by The Dessa
Summary: It's the summer holiday and 10 year old Ichigo's new neighbors have arrived. He makes a new friend, which causes disturbances with his other friends. An incident happens, a promise is made. But the grown-ups said she had to leave. Ratings will change.
1. Chapter 1

Dessa's Note: Hey! Omg I'm writing a new fic! I've had this idea for ages… since Christmas! It's not going to be anywhere near as long as Misinterpreted First Impression, so don't worry (I will update that sometime soon as well), I'm trying to keep a maximum of 5 chapters on this one. I wanted to write a childhood story with kids actually acting like kids because I've realised modern children are acting more grown up than they should be, and manufacturing padded bras for 7 year olds doesn't help the situation. Neither is it very kiddy when 11 year olds type in 'free porn' into google. So I wanted to write about kids being kids as a celebration of the innocent care free attitudes most of us once had as children. I hope you like it!

Setting: in a Karakura with a forest and in a time where there was no internet.

Disclaimer: applied.

My New Neighbour

Chapter 1

A ten year old boy strolled down the woodland pathway with a roughly carved wooden stick in his hands, which he used for beating away branches and twigs that impeded his way. This boy, Ichigo Kurosaki, like most boys his age, disliked the female species. This distaste for girls he shared with his friends; Yamada, Keigo, Mizuiro and Suzuki. When they had first aggregated as friends, they decided to name their group 'the stick boys' not because they were skinny like stick men, but because each member carried they're own personally carved wooden sticks.

Ichigo was in a disastrous mood because his next door neighbours had a little girl who insisted on pulling his uniquely orange coloured hair.

'Stupid Yachiru,' grumbled Ichigo as he arrived at his friends' secret hideout; which was a simple tree house. 'Giving me a headache, why can't she pull out her own pink hair!'

'Good morning to you too,' replied Mizuiro lethargically while flicking through some manga. Ichigo just scowled for an answer, too much in a bad mood to offer much coherent conversation.

'Okay, spit it out, what's eating you Kurosaki?' asked Suzuki with a certain lack of eye contact. He was a rather tall boy with glasses, who was reading a car magazine he managed to steal from his older brother.

Ichigo glared at his friend, was silent for a moment but then erupted as suddenly as a volcano. 'I HATE GIRLS! That stupid Yachiru was pulling my hair… AGAIN! I would have punched her if her crazy dad wasn't watching the whole time. Is the whole summer holiday going to be like this?'

'Not all girls are bad' piped in Mizuiro suddenly.

'How would you know? We go to a boys' school!

'I have sisters.'

'So do I!'

'But they're five Ichigo, they're still babies'

'No they're not!'

'Would you give it a rest already!' interrupted Keigo uncharacteristically, annoyed that he had to pause his manga reading.

But Ichigo was still seething and massaging the top of his head where little tenacious Yachiru had concentrated her attacks.

'I don't understand why we have to marry girls when we grow up,' mentioned Yamada, a small boy with rosy cheeks and red curly hair.

'Me neither' said Keigo.

'They're so annoying and always dress in pink, it hurts my eyes' contributed Suzuki plainly.

'Alright, then lets make a promise that we never get married when we grow up.' suggested Ichigo resolutely, a serious scowl set firmly on his forehead.

'But how are we going to buy a house and keep a dog without getting married?' asked Keigo worriedly.

'And if we don't get married… will that mean we can't have kids when we grow up?' asked Yamada innocently.

'No, you don't have to be married for that,' said Suzuki nonchalantly.

'Eh? How come? How do you know?' asked an intrigued Ichigo.

'I overheard my brothers talking about it,' replied he with the faintest of blushes on his usually stoic face, this was a rare sight to the remaining boys and they were only too keen to hear on more of this mysterious "older-boys" conversation.

'What else did they say? What else? What did they say?' persisted Keigo like an over-excited golden retriever.

'I don't want to say!' shouted Suzuki, now blushing fully with mortification in his eyes. If it was rare for the stick boys to see Suzuki blush, it was very rarely indeed that he ever shouted, and as one the boys took a step back from their angry friend.

'Okay, now that kids are not a problem, let's pledge to never get married.' Said Ichigo with finality. After some further debate, and settled conditions for betrayal, they each swore a ridiculously long oath, with their wooden staffs in hand, never to marry a single girl in their whole lives.

….

On his way home later that afternoon, Ichigo delayed rushing into the kitchen for some much needed supper when he noticed a large delivery van parked outside his next door neighbour's house, the one that had been deserted for almost four months. Due to his ever growing curiosity, Ichigo made a small whole in the hedge that formed a guarding perimeter around the neighbor's front garden; he hacked at the branches until the hole was big enough to look through. What he saw surprised him to no end.

Sitting on the green floor was a little girl, she was dressed in an ordinary light blue denim dungaree with matching blue pins in her auburn hair… hair that was so long it fell to the grassy ground while she sat. However, what was most surprising of all was the fact the she held a dark green frog in her small muddy hands and was trying to feed the amphibian grass.

'I guess you don't like grass much do you Mr. Frog?' the frog made no response. The little girl sighed. Then she turned to put the frog back into a small pile of mud; which was coincidentally the instant she saw a pair of brown eyes in the hedge. The accompanying gasp that came from the hedge told her it couldn't be a gnome because they're not accustomed to gasping. Slowly she crawled her way towards the hole in the hedge.

Behind it, Ichigo was about to run away, but if he ran, it would only be to next door, and the girl would definitely follow him… and stalk him… and torture him by pulling out each strand of his hairs. No! It would be much safer if his sleeping locations remained unknown. Due to a lack of any other option, Ichigo stayed put and told himself to look danger in the face like a true man! But what he saw could not be construed as dangerous in the least. The little girl had crawled to face him through the hole in the hedge. She had magnificent, large grey eyes that reflected his own frozen expression, a heart shaped face and pink lips that were currently set in a welcoming smile. She was remarkably pretty despite her crooked and growing adult teeth.

'Hello!' she said, her voice floating towards him like a cloud of warmth. Ichigo instantly frowned, which did not go unnoticed. 'Are you okay?' Ichigo remained silent and frowning, 'Why are you looking through our hedge?' again Ichigo said nothing, though at this question he blushed slightly having just realized he got caught peeking. Despite the lack of responses, she didn't waver in her smile or endeavors at engaging him, 'I'm nine years old, how old are you?' again he said nothing. 'My name is Orihime, what's yours?' Ichigo was surprised, but inched closer to the hole to reply with simply his name. At his simple introduction the girl called Orihime smiled radiantly at him through her delight, which in turn caused him to widen his eyes in some measure of astonishment.

'Yay! I'm so happy you told me your name! Will you be my friend please?' asked she politely, her smile finally faltered at her listener's outraged face. 'I-It's only that I've just moved here with my Nii-san and I haven't made any friends yet.'

'But… But you're a _girl_ !' said Ichigo as though this explained everything.

Orihime was confused, 'I-I'm sorry'

'Why are you saying sorry?'

'Because you don't like that I'm a girl'

'No, that's wrong, I like it that you're a girl.' Before he realized what he was saying the words were out of his mouth and he blushed profusely as a result of them.

'Then why won't you be friends with me?' asked she innocently; completely oblivious to the young boy's blush.

Ichigo frowned darkly at the ground, 'It's not that I don't want to be your friend… but don't girls just play with dolls and pink stuff?'

'Oh' replied Orihime, her face crestfallen, 'Well, I don't always play with dolls, but if you don't want to be friends with me… it's okay, I can still play with Mr. Frog,' and she smiled softly gesturing towards the green bulbous frog still in her hands.

Ichigo found this sufficient encouragement. 'Alright alright I'll be your friend!' his scowl relaxed a few degrees when he saw her wide happy smile, and feeling his toughness leak away from him he added 'But you have to be a good friend, I'm tired of annoying girls.'

Orihime, far from being disheartened nodded her head enthusiastically, still wearing her blissful smile. 'I can be a good friend! I promise!' and she smiled, if possible, even brighter. Ichigo started feeling too warm, thankfully she broke the silence before it really became uncomfortable. 'Do you want to pet Mr. Frog?'

'Yeah okay!' said Ichigo excitedly, forgetting his embarrassment in light of the more interest-catching amphibian.

Ichigo joined his new friend on the other side of the hedge. He noticed that with the closer proximity, Orihime had very shiny hair, it looked really shiny and he wondered if it would ripple at his touch. Before he knew what he was doing, he had poked the little girl's head, she had not expected such a manoeuvre and as a result ended up lying on her side on the grass from the impact.

'Owwie…' she now sat up wobbly 'Ichigo-kun, why did you do that?' asked she in nothing but confusion.

Ichigo was at a loss… how could he say the truth when he thought something stupid and girly like 'I wonder if her hair will ripple', perhaps it was exposure to the girl itself that caused this very silly thought, could this be a side affect? Ichigo blinked and saw she was still patiently waiting for an answer.

'There was a butterfly on you head, I got rid of it for you before it laid eggs,' Ichigo thought she would shriek in disgust at the thought of an insect on her head, but she squealed in delight and clasped her hands together.

'Really? Really really? There was a butterfly on my head? Maybe my wish will come true!'

'What?' Was Ichigo's intelligent question.

'Do you know the story of the Queen Butterfly?'

'No…' answered Ichigo, feeling suddenly vulnerable. But he need not have worried, Orihime did not tease him about his limited knowledge of the story, but she went out of her way to detail the story for him, complete with rapid arm gestures and booming sound effects. Ichigo managed to decipher the main points; which involved a queen butterfly, some evil warlocks, a horse and a very important daffodil. By the time Orihime was dictating the ending Ichigo had completely forgotten the beginning, but never before had he ever enjoyed listening to another's story telling as much as he enjoyed Orihime's.

'The END!' announced Orihime with a classic Orihime styled grin spread across her face. Ichigo was rather impressed.

'You're a good story teller you know' said he nonchalantly, performing a small smile of appreciation. Orihime blushed healthily and averted her gaze.

'You think so?'

'Yeah, I wouldn't have said it otherwise.'

At his answer, Orihime graced him with a blinding smile that managed to enhance her missing and crooked teeth. 'That's really good because when I grow up I want to be a story maker.'

'You mean an author, right?'

'What's an author?'

'They write stories,'

'Okay then I want to be an author! What do you want to be when you grow up Ichigo-kun?'

'I don't know…' before Orihime could try and understand him further Ichigo had changed the subject suddenly 'Do you want to come to my tree house?'

'Wow you have a tree house?'

'Uh-huh, wanna come with me to it? You tell more stories.'

But before Orihime had the chance to reply, a tall man exited the house and walked towards them.

'Is that your Dad?' asked Ichigo curiously, his scowl in place for he didn't think much of Dads in general, only because of the wild behavior of his own.

'Nu-uh! That's my big brother, he's the coolest person in the whooole world!' for some reason, Ichigo didn't like that answer.

'So where's your Dad then?' but before she had a chance to stammer an answer Orihime's brother glanced down at the orange haired boy who seemed to be talking with his sister.

'Whose your new friend Orihime?' said the man, who seemed all of a sudden… very tall.

'This is my new friend Ichigo-kun! He lives next door Nii-san!' the man gazed down at Ichigo… who swallowed, audibly.

'You're Kurosaki-san's son?' Ichigo nodded, the man smiled slightly, 'You're a lot quieter then I thought you would be.'

'Can I go to his tree house with him?'

Ichigo could feel himself perspiring slightly as Orihime's brother continued to assess him non-verbally.

'You have your own tree house?'

'Its mine and my friends,' replied Ichigo shakily, finding trouble maintaining eye contact with this very tall man.

'Can I go Nii-san? Can I? Can I?' continued Orihime.

'I see no reason why not… just stay out of trouble Orihime.'

And with that, the tall man walked off. Ichigo felt himself breathe again.

'Always!' shouted back Orihime to her brother's retreating back.

'Your brother is really tall…'

Orihime nodded her head proudly, 'I told you he was the greatest! Shall we go to your friends' tree house now?'

Ichigo scowled again, 'It's my tree house!'

Dessa's Note: You have no idea how British it is for boys to stay faaar away from girls when they're young, like they're diseased or something. So what did the audience think?


	2. Chapter 2

**Dessa's Note: Wow, the second chapter's out. I hope this meets expectations. I'm feeling really iffy about it, like going to an exam under prepared. I might edit it sometime in the future. Anyway, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: applied**

Chapter 2

It being mildly late in the evening, Ichigo had no chance to escape his father's firm grip as he dragged him away from a waving Orihime to settle down at the dining table and eat his supper. Ichigo then cried a promise to Orihime that he would take her to his tree house the following day, she smiled and nodded as answer.

At the dining table, Ichigo helped his father ladle food onto the illustrated plates for his young sisters. Isshin noticed his normally boisterous but scowling son was frowning deeply in thought, despite a slightly more relaxed forehead. The father had already been informed by Sora-kun that his son had befriended the little girl next door and not to be alarmed if she were to feed Ichigo anything. The interactions between the two children would be something quiet intriguing and Isshin couldn't wait for the inevitable female induced dilemmas his son was about to experience, oh the joy it would bring to a proud father! Glancing at the orange head he noticed that the boy's eyes were gazing at the large portrait of his wife.

'Dad.' Stated Ichigo, the father replied with insignificant words of well rehearsed interest, 'How did you make mum marry you?'

Eyebrows on a receding hairline rose… Oh ho…. In the split second of thought Isshin allowed himself before replying, the doctor evaluated that he had two options. One, he could tease Ichigo for the motives behind his strange question which will probably lead to anger, a juvenile fist fight and the silent treatment. Two, he could answer honestly and observe the fruits of this most interesting development. Curiosity won over humiliation.

'Well, I asked her to marry me.' replied Isshin simply, testing the waters.

Ichigo scowled slight in confusion 'But how did you make her like you?' Oh Isshin was sure this was a worthy investment.

'At first, I did anything to get her attention,'

'Err… isn't attention that thing that Sensei always shouts in school?'

'No… Well yes. But this is a different kind of attention,'

'What kind is it?'

'The kind when you try to get a girl to notice you.'

Judging by the lift of sheer puzzlement on his son's face, Isshin knew he must have headed down the right track. 'Okay, okay so what did you do?' asked the boy excitedly, his eyes widening marginally in anticipation.

'In the beginning I tried pick up lines-'

'Pick up lines?' the confused scowl was back.

'Yes, pick up lines, like 'If I could arrange the alphabet I'd put U and I together' or 'someone stole the stars and put them in your eyes', or 'you must be tired because you've been running through my mind all day' and my favourite but least successful 'It's raining outside so lets get wet too.' Ahh those were the days..' and Isshin fell into a serenely reminiscent gaze.

'What do you mean "lets get wet too"? Why would anyone want to get wet? Do they want to catch a cold or something?'

Isshin prayed that Masaki was not fuming in her grave. 'That doesn't matter, what matters is that pick up lines don't work, so don't use them.'

'Okay fine, don't use pick up lines. Then what did you do to get mum to marry you?'

'Hush, I'm getting to that part,' the twins were now playing with their spoons. 'So your mum just ignored me, she probably thought I was annoying… guess I was. So I thought I'd do the slower but more mature thing,' at this he lifted his gaze from his son's to the portrait of the mother of his children. 'I spoke to her seriously, said I really really liked her; that I admired her and that she made me want to become a better man for her. Do you know what she said after that?'

'What?'

The doctor's eyes snapped to his son's 'She asked me if I would become her friend.' Ichigo's eyes widened and nearly protruded out of their orbits all together.

'I know, it was the last thing I expected too' said Isshin misunderstanding his son's shock. 'But I agreed of course, it gave me an excuse to be closer to her, I could learn more about her and try to impress her.'

'You? Impress?' Ichigo shook his head sceptically, 'I don't think so, I still think you forced mum to marry you.'

'Well I didn't. Believe it or not she married me from her own free will!' what was happening here? How could his son all of a sudden be irritating him!

'Alright alright, so you didn't force her. How did you do it then?'

'Do what?'

'Impress mum!'

'Oh, well, at first I kept talking to her about my weight,'

'You're weight?' asked Ichigo disbelievingly, 'Why would you complain to mum about being fat?'

'I was not fat! And it wasn't about being fat anyway, it was more about you know, muscle mass. But I learnt pretty quickly that she wasn't into that.'

'Muscle mass?'

'Yes muscle mass, as in how strong my biceps were. But your mother was never so superficial to be impressed by that. And girls don't like it when you always talk about yourself.' Isshin grew quickly agitated by the condescending look in his son's eyes, but suppressed it in order to continue his remarkable teachings. 'So what I did was learn about her, I found out about her favourite flowers, the places she likes to go to, the food she liked to eat, the books she'd read, the films she'd watched, her dreams and ambitions, how many children she wanted and what she would call them…' Isshin suddenly smiled and turned to face the portrait again 'and then I realised that she was… unique. That no other lady compared to her, and that's when I asked her to marry me because I wouldn't be happy without her as a wife.'

'And then what?' asked Ichigo, enraptured.

'She said yes, but she wanted to wait until after she finished her studies and got settled into work.'

'Why did she say yes?'

Instead of looking angry, Ichigo's father looked thoughtful 'I don't know, but she said that being friends with me let her know me too… and she liked me.'

'That sounds stuuupid!'

'To you it might, but sometimes things happen and you don't know how it did.' Isshin cast one last look at the portrait, sighed and moved to clear up the twin's food-smothered faces.

….

Ichigo pondered on the little tale his father told him the next day on his way to the tree house with Orihime. She didn't seem to mind his benign silence and continued chatting of the deliciousness of her onion pancake breakfast. She paused after a particularly long period that was devoid of her companion's contributing 'hmms' and cared to scrutinise his thoughtful scowl which seemed all of a sudden.. amusing.

'Ichigo has a funny scowl!' tinkled she with an innocent laugh.

Normally Ichigo would have automatically denied that any facial feature of his could be deemed as comical in any way possible. However at that moment he could only think of her smile and parallel that to the vague advice of his dad.

'Orihime.'

'Yes?'

'What flowers do you like?'

She smiled beautifully to the sky while she thought of her answer. 'Daffodils!' and she nodded as affirmation.

'Why daffodils?'

'Because Nii-san says the colour of the inside bit of a daffodil is like the colour of my hair.'

Ichigo pondered over her reasoning and decided he agreed with it, but he didn't understand how this would make her like him. What?… Like him? Good God what's happened to his mind?

'What flowers do you like Ichigo-kun?'

'Flowers are for sissies' replied Ichigo derisively without thought, immediately Orihime began to tear up, though she did her best to hide it.

'O- Oi what's wrong?'

'D-does t-that mean I'm a s-sissy?'

Ichigo panicked. 'NO! No, you are not a sissy, definitely not!'

'Really?' asked Orihime tremulously, her drying tears tinted with hope.

'Yeah' she smiled thankfully which made him return a little one of his own.

The rest of their journey to the tree house Ichigo spoke a little more which was a vast improvement to his normally sombre silence.

…..

Keigo and Mizuiro, being the only two currently in the tree house, were busy playing 'Guess Who' and arguing over what defined a moustache when the trap door opened and gave entrance way to their orange haired friend. They both greeted him and began suggesting three-member activities to do while he nodded in return, but then the most bizarre thing happened: he talked down the still opened trap door.

'Be careful and give me your hand or you'll fall.'

Keigo was on the verge of asking Ichigo why he would talk to a trap door, when unexpectedly, a voice was heard… a very different kind of voice too.

'But it's fun climbing with two hands,'

'Don't do that, the steps aren't sanded, so you'll get a splinter.' And he extended his arm to aid her.

The top of Orihime's head appeared 'What's sanded?'

'I-Ichigo… is that a' began Mizuiro, but then Orihime's head appeared

'Girl…' completed Keigo, looking completely astounded.

'Its something that makes wood smooth.' Answered Ichigo, while helping a staggering Orihime find her feet. He did not notice his shell shocked friends.

'Ichigo!' said Mizuiro with alarm, catching the attention of his friend.

'Huh?' Ichigo turned towards his friend in puzzlement, 'what?'

'You brought a girl here!' cried Mizuiro in criminal fear.

'Yeah I know.'

'I thought you didn't like girls.'

'I don't' Orihime's eyes widened.

'Then what is _she_ doing here?' Mizuiro pointed more vehemently than intended towards the near-tearful girl.

'She's an exception'

Mizuiro's eyebrows nearly disappeared 'Whyyyyy?'

'Because she's my friend' Orihime smiled to herself. At this, a flicker of understanding passed through Mizuiro's eyes, he then proceeded to shrug his shoulders and return to his game with Keigo… Except Keigo had suddenly vanished. One quick glance around the room informed him that Keigo had not miraculously disappeared, but had simply wandered in a dazed stupor towards the only girl to have ever stepped foot in this dominantly male domain. Keigo was about to grab a fistful of her hair too; before a heavily scowling Ichigo intercepted.

'What do you think you're doing idiot!' said the orange head dangerously while he pushed the dazed boy roughly aside, this seemed to sober him somewhat..

'But… its so long, it's like a horse's tail!' and he tried reaching for it again, like a moth to a flame.

Orihime blushed profusely, not knowing if she just received a compliment or an insult. Ichigo, who couldn't care less of the intention behind the words had a very different reaction; one could say that steam was splitting out from Ichigo's ears as he swelled in anger like a wild bull on chillies.

'Stop touching her hair you Baka!' and before the blasphemous fingers could finally reach their destination, Ichigo had wrestled his friend to the floor. As Orihime moved to halt the brewing of a fight, new voices were heard.

'What's hap-' began Suzuki but was caught off guard by the violation of section three of the tree house agreement that was presently standing in the middle of the room.

'FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!' cried Yamada, rolling up his sleeves and preparing to dive into the fray.

'No please stop fighting!' said Orihime loudly enough to be heard, this caught Yamada's attention who just noticed her, it also managed to stop Ichigo from his activities and spared a near mass-of-pulp Keigo. Mizuiro was relieved he didn't have to step in this time.

'Whoa… What are you doing here? No girls aloud here girly!' said Yamada.

'Umm…' she began fidgeting with her fingers.

'I brought her here,' said Ichigo standing in front of the girl.

'Why? You don't even like girls.'

'She's my new neighbour.'

'So?'

'She's also my friend.'

'But Tatsuki's your friend and you don't let her up here.'

'Then she can when she comes back from holiday.'

'But she can't because this is strictly a no girls allowed zone! You made the rule yourself!'

Ichigo shrugged 'Fine, we can lift the rule for special exceptions.'

'Ooh so she's special to you now?' sniggered Keigo in a very 10 year old boy fashion.

Ichigo glared at him while fighting the beginnings of a blush. 'Shut up,' he said in the deadliest voice he could muster.

The conversation carried on in this manner. Orihime was left glancing anxiously from one face to the next as though watching a tennis ball in the Wimbledon men's final, Keigo would persistently jab at Ichigo's expense, Yamada would sometimes join in but was mostly a spectator like Mizuiro. It was strangely Suzuki who remained the only member to have not said a single word and none noticed his stolen glances at Orihime.

The boys concluded that due to Ichigo's persistence to break his own rule, Orihime would be allowed to stay. At first Orihime simply remained next to Ichigo's side while he gave the grand tour of the tree house. He showed her their game chest, their manga shelves and their planning wall where they would scheme ideas for exploration, treasure hunting and fighting bad guys. Ichigo then proceeded to explain how he built the tree house and everything in it, this lead to inevitable arguments, the first of which was with Suzuki who stated bluntly, though suddenly, that it was he who had designed, the tree house and that all had helped in its construction, Ichigo had retaliated that it was his idea originally and hence it was only logical that the tree house belonged to him. The argument carried on in this circular dispute. Suzuki remained mostly silent for the remainder of Orihime's visit, only opening his mouth to say something at Ichigo's expense.

Meanwhile Orihime could barely say a word for shyness. Once she felt familiar enough with the workings of the secular group, she began to giggle slightly at some of their antics, such as when Keigo failed a handstand. Ichigo was pleased at her interaction, subsequently he asked her to tell them a story, simultaneously bragging to his male friends that he had befriended someone with a big enough brain to tell stories without a book in front of her. This simple piece of information seemed to catch the interest of the audience, who then demanded for one of her tales. Orihime was hesitant. But after encouragement from Ichigo, she began a tale involving a giant ant, fifty rocks and a wish for freedom.

**Dessa's Note: I was meant to write more, but it's 5.50 in the morning and I hope you'll forgive me, but I'm tiiiiiired! I can't ait for Chapter 3. I really can't wait! The plan has already been set so all that is needed is for it to be constructed which shouldn't take too long :D **


	3. Chapter 3

**Dessa's Note: Yay update! I'm very happy with this chapter; I've been waiting to write it up since I started this fic! I must say that I'm astounded by the response I've gotten for this fan fic. It's been astonishing! Didn't have time to proof read this, so I might edit it later. Anyway, on with the show….**

Chapter 3

Orihime noticed that she had gained increasing acceptance by Ichigo-kun's friends as the weeks past by, though some were still afraid that she was a girl. Nevertheless she was flattered by it, but even more so by the undivided attention Ichigo-kun gave her himself, even if he wasn't aware of it. She glanced down to her shopping bag and smiled to herself when she saw the portion of fudge she had acquired for her new friend. When she had seen the package in the little tuck shop near the local park she couldn't help but remember how Ichigo-kun had mentioned to her that they were his favourite sweet in the whole world. Naturally she bought them for him and couldn't wait to give them to him.

Suddenly Orihime heard multiple heavy footsteps behind her. She chanced a glance behind her and noticed three older boys pointing at her while murmuring to each other about something. They looked roughly 11 or 12 years old and their dark eyes held a curiosity about them which Orihime was decidedly uncomfortable with. Trusting her instincts she began to walk faster, almost immediately she heard the hastened change in her possible follower's feet, this continued for another 30 seconds before one of the boys called out something to her, it was words she'd never heard before, but definitely English, despite not understanding the meaning she had enough sense about her and a raised heart rate to walk even faster. Her now definite followers had reciprocated by also increasing the speed of their pace, which in turn ignited a chain reaction inside Orihime's chest, she panicked and started running, her shopping bag banging on her leg occasionally.

The boys behind her then broke out into a run after her; Orihime was at a loss as to why the thuggish looking boys were running after her. The only logical thing she grappled onto was to keep running, because she knew for a fact that if she stopped, bad things could happen. They were too fast for her. One had managed to get close enough to say maliciously 'Did anyone tell you you're hair is the colour of vomit?' she twisted around in fear and found one of the boys at an alarmingly short distance to herself, he was even extending his arm out to make a grab at her hair.

Orihime panicked again as more taunts made their way to her ears and she put all her effort into running faster. But her legs were rebelling against her, screaming in pain with every extension and begging for her to halt with every flexion. Thankfully, Orihime noticed a narrow alley way between two shop buildings, without thinking she took a sharp turn and dived into the alley way, she only looked back when she reached the other side successfully. She took one glance at the boys' angry faces and spitting curses then resumed running home. When she reached the lane leading to her house, Orihime sat on one of the fence brick walls and tried to catch her breath, it was only then did the pounding in her ears begin to fade, did her rapid heart rate begin to slow and the violent trembling of her hands and legs were noticed.

For the first time since the chase, Orihime cried.

She did not understand why the boys disliked her hair, who they were, or what they wanted but the fear they caused had made a very deep impression on her senses and she dreaded the next time she would see them.

At the moment where Orihime sat staring at her shaking hands, Ichigo had exited his house and found her sitting on annoying Yachiru's low brick walled garden fence. A happy smile spread across his face as he approached her, wondering if he should ask her to come with him to the park. But the smile vanished and he ran to her when he saw the tears falling from her cheeks to her lap.

'Orihime! Orihime! Why are you crying?' asked he frantically. His eyes wide with worry and his tone laced with anxiety.

Orihime looked up and betrayed the fear she felt in her countenance for simply a second before she covered it all up with a shaky smile while she wiped at her eyes with her sleeve. 'I'm fine; it's nothing Ichigo-kun,'

'No, you were crying, why were you crying?' asked he again.

'I'm fine Ichigo-kun' her smile disappeared, and her eyes stared at the ground.

Ichigo, being the young boy that he was, lacked the patience some boys learn as they grow up. 'No! I'm not giving up until you tell me why you were crying!' Orihime declined the charge and Ichigo persisted, this continued in a vicious cycle, until Orihime began crying again.

'I don't want to say why! Just leave me alone!' and she stormed off in a flood of tears to her house. She then ran up the stairs and locked herself in her room, threw the shopping bag to the floor, collapsed onto her bed and brought her only cuddly toy to her chest; she then subsequently curled up into a ball and sobbed silently to her toy. As Orihime sobbed she noticed the shopping bag that was thrown to the floor, and she saw the packet of fudges fallen to the floor.

…

Ichigo was once again in a bad mood as he made his way to his friend's secret tree house. However, this time it was tinged with guilt. He had enough analytical ability to understand that he had upset Orihime, despite not exactly knowing how he did it. All that was certain to him was that he needed to say sorry somehow. Which Ichigo had tried to do when he knocked on her front door later that day. Only to face her very tall brother who told him Orihime was sleeping and didn't want to be disturbed.

'There you are Ichigo!' exclaimed Keigo as he made a move to jump on him as he entered the tree house through the opened trap door.

'Yeah, we haven't seen you in so long we were starting to miss you' said Suzuki nonchalantly. 'I suppose you've been spending all your time with that Orihime girl' added he not so nonchalantly and with a furtive but jealous look towards Ichigo.

'She was crying today' said Ichigo seriously, crossing his arms in thought.

'Who cares, what matters is that you've been ditching us Ichigo!' said Keigo in a degree of hurt close to tears.

'And I think I'm going to have to apologise, have any of you apologised to a girl before?'

'Nope, but my dad always gets my mum her favourite flowers whenever he's gotten her angry.' Contributed Misfire helpfully, still flicking through mange.

'Hmm… flowers.' Pondered Ichigo.

'Look at yourself Ichigo! You're thinking of flowers! It's all that _girl's_ fault! Snap out of it Ichigo or she'll suck out or you boyness!' expelled Yamada, genuinely concerned for the state of his friend's gender.

'Stop talking rubbish, I'm still a boy whether I'm friends with Orihime or not'

'But that's not all, Ichigo; you're starting to abandon your guy friends!'

'No I'm not.'

'Yes you are.' replied Keigo, Mizuiro and Suzuki in sync. Ichigo was caught off guard.

'See Ichigo! You _are_ abandoning your friends, even your friends think so! Remember "Bros before hoes"!'

'Orihime is not a hose! She doesn't sprout water!' shouted back Ichigo angrily.

'That's not what I meant.' Said Yamada, shaking his head tiredly.

'Then what's a hoes?'

'Hoes is plural for Hoe dimwit,' explained Yamada, Ichigo was getting visibly more annoyed.

'Fine… what's a hoe?'

'Err…' it was evident that Yamada didn't know either, 'A girl who is very bad.' Replied he with a convincing nod of the head.

'Well that's stupid, because Orihime is the goodest girl I know!'

'She's the only girl you know!'

Ichigo was about to retort back when suddenly an idea came to mind. 'Daffodils!' sprouted he suddenly, slamming his fist into his palm with energy.

'I think he's lost his mind.' mentioned Suzuki plainly.

'No stupid! I'll get Orihime daffodils to say sorry with.'

'That won't work, Daffodils only come out from the ground in spring and we're in the summer.' Contributed Suzuki.

Ichigo's glee evaporated from his face, but his resolution remained. 'I don't believe you! I'm going to find daffodils if it's the last thing I do' and in true angry Ichigo fashion, he left the tree house in as much a bad mood as he had arrived it in.

…

Ichigo spent the rest of the afternoon in search for the specific flowers. His friends, were right, they just didn't bloom in summer.

'Why don't you get some bellflowers or some Marigolds?' suggested the elderly flower seller kindly.

'No! They have to be daffodils!' demanded Ichigo.

'Why do they have to be daffodils?'

'Because they're her favourite?' replied Ichigo in near desperation, but then he just realised what he said and covered his mouth with his hands, looking sheepish at his little slip.

'_Her_ favourite? So there's a _girl_ involved?' said the now intrigued flower seller, a spark of teasing prominent in her eyes.

'None of your business!' Snapped back an Ichigo with red cheeks.

'Now see here young man.' Began the seller dangerously, 'Be rude to an old like me again and you won't get any help.'

'Sorry Obaa-san' repented Ichigo sincerely, 'I just really want to get these daffodils.'

'Well, if you want daffodils so much I can give you these…' and she placed a small box in front of him.

Ichigo's eyes widened in interest, 'What is it?'

…

It was just past supper when Ichigo had returned home from his flower hunting trip. Isshin hadn't been very happy with his son, but the soft hopeful blush that his son was wearing prevented him from inflicting any sort of punishment... it was just so cute! Instead Isshin told his son to warm his own dinner from the leftovers in the fridge then to get ready for bed.

Ichigo helped himself to a quick supper but had no intension of going to bed. Instead he moved one of the kitchen tables to the key rack that hung high on the wall. Stepping on the chair allowed him the necessary height to pick up the copy of the house keys. He then proceeded to replace the kitchen chair, grab his purchases and sneak out of the house. He was back outside the house and quietly tip toed over the crunchy grass towards Orihime's house. He jumped over the garden hedge, and moved as stealthily as he could to the wall he was certain was the one that held Orihime's bedroom window. Then he grabbed a pebble and threw it as softly as he could towards the window so that it would not crack.

The persistent tapping managed to get Orihime's attention, who was reading a book with her teddy bear in her lap. Orihime stood up and opened the window to decipher the cause of the tapping, wondering for a moment if the boys from earlier had managed to find out where she lived. She looked down in trepidation, but then smiled when she saw her neighbour Ichigo. She waved at him, more pleased than she expected to see him.

But then suddenly she came to her senses.

'Ichigo-kun what are you doing here so late? You'll get into big trouble!'

'I don't care; I have something I need to give you!'

Orihime's face lit up, 'really for me? Wait then I'll go open the door.'

'No wait! I want to see if I can climb up to your window by my self!'

'Don't be silly Ichigo-kun; my room is on the first floor!'

'Just watch me Orihime!' and Ichigo put the bag was carrying around his shoulder and began climbing the guttering of the wall. Orihime instantly froze but told him to get back down before he fell. But Ichigo prevailed on, determined to show off how much courage he had. He used the window sills and jutting bricks to balance himself and gain greater height until finally Ichigo had reached Orihime's bedroom window where he was assisted by trembling hands to get inside the bedroom.

Once inside Ichigo gave her a smug grin that said 'how cool am I?' but it was never seen, for Orihime had launched herself and hugged her friend so tightly Ichigo had trouble breathing while sporting a very heavy blush. 'Why did you do that? You could have fallen and died!' shrieked Orihime, but not loudly enough for her brother to hear.

'I'm fine Orihime, I said I could do it.'

'But you shouldn't have, you could have broken your leg or gotten into heaps of trouble!'

'Fine, I won't do it again.' Grumbled Ichigo, Orihime smiled her gratitude before she noticed how close her face was to his, she then immediately let go and jumped back as if she had stumbled on hot coals. Ichigo was at a loss for the motives behind her behaviour.

'S-so what did you come to give me?'

'Oh yeah, here' and he handed her the bag, she opened it to find several small misshapen ovals that looked a cross between garlic and potatoes.

'Are these some kind of vegetable?' she asked, intrigued.

'Nope, they're bulbs,'

'Bulbs?' she repeated incredulously, looking at him with nothing but confusion.

'Yep! Bulbs! They're not the kind you use for the light on the ceilings. The shop keeper told me you have to plant these in the ground and then, next spring daffodils will come out from them.' The note of pride was unmistakable in his voice.

'So they're like daffodil seeds?'

'Yeah, except that daffodils will come every year.'

'You got me daffodils?' asked she with a particular indefinable look in her eyes.

'Y-yeah, do you not like them? I'm sorry I couldn't get you real daffodils, all the shops didn't have them.'

'No I love them, thank you Ichigo-kun,' and she smiled that radiant smile he'd missed all day.

Ichigo coughed to try and hide his blush, 'Don't mention it.'

'But why?'

'Why what?'

'Why did you get me daffodil bulbs?'

'Oh….'Ichigo looked down to the floor, 'to say sorry for upsetting you this morning.'

'You didn't upset me.'

'Yeah I did, you even told me to leave you alone.'

'Oh…' Orihime sat down on the edge of her bed 'well, I was sad, but not anymore, so everything's all right.'

Ichigo sighed, 'You know you can tell me.' And he sat down next to her.

Orihime said nothing while she thought it over. In the end she decided that she would end up worrying Ichigo-kun more than was necessary and so the relevant information wasn't worth really being talked about. It should all be okay if she stays silent, but it saddened her to keep things from her friend. 'I'll tell you about it one day.' Judging by her friend's surprised expression, he was not expecting such an answer, but he seemed content with it and had already learnt not to push her for information.

'Oh! I have something for you too!' and she got off the bed to start rummaging for something on one of her many shoeboxes that were piled neatly under her desk.

'You do?' asked Ichigo in interest.

'Yup!' and Orihime resurfaced with the bag of fudge.

'Fudge!' exclaimed Ichigo, he immediately tore open the packet when it was in his grasp and popped one into his mouth, then he offered it to Orihime, Orihime declined on account of having already brushed her teeth. Ichigo gave her ten of the sweets anyway and told her to eat them tomorrow. As much as she disliked him leaving, Orihime knew he had to or he'd get into serious trouble if her brother found out a boy was in her room. Ichigo grudgingly agreed with her.

He opened the window, his bravado on full display as he made to stick one leg out the window. Then he looked down, and then looked at Orihime. 'I think I should leave by the door.'

**Notes: 1****st**** floor in Britain-land is 2****nd**** floor in America, just in case you ladies and gents were confused. I have no idea what they system is for the other countries :S. I'm not sure what the American version of the meaning behind 'hoe' is but in Britain… it's along the lines of a bad girl :P**

**Dessa's Note: Argh! Chapter 3 is up! I hope you all enjoyed it? Please do tell me your opinions, the rating will probably change in the next chapter, which will unfortunately be a little darker in flavour. Thank you stupendously to .stories, Mosspaw, Princessxstrawberry15, The0Blind0Writer, Alice Hattercandy, Nypse, Alice Althea, psforever, GoodLuckMother, Sullla, it0takes0skills0to0be0me and Sweetestescape for the reviews, you are my heroes!**


	4. Chapter 4

**Dessa's Note: Right, I have never written such a long chapter before, I'm very sorry for keeping you waiting but things have been a bit hectic with friends and family and stuff. Oh yeah... and the royal wedding. I very much liked the dress :D Anyway, I've written a not so happy chapter, it was necessary as it was what gave me the idea for the fic in the first place. The next chapter will be the last. I have a few ideas for a sequel, but I'm not too sure about writing one, I'll only do it if the readers want me to. Enjoy chapter 4. (only proof read it once btw).**

Chapter 4

Bright orange rays from the setting sun were disseminated by the forest's tree leaves, leaving the rays to dapple on the foot path below the tree's towering forms. These bright orange rays occasionally brushed the faces of two small children as they walked down the footpath on their way home, hurrying slightly in fear of being late for supper.

The two children had spent an enjoyable afternoon at the secret-tree house, unfortunately it proved a little uncomfortable to Orihime as she felt responsible for one of the boys' withdrawn and quiet disposition.

'Ichigo-kun, I don't think Suzuki-kun likes me very much,' began Orihime, parts of her hair catching the orange rays and becoming impossibly mesmerizing.

Ichigo did notice the changes in her hair but chose to not mention anything about it, mainly due to not knowing what to say. Instead he did the most logical thing and answered her indirect question.

'No he doesn't, he just doesn't talk a lot.'

'But Ichigo-kun, I think he really doesn't like me.'

Ichigo's brows knitted. 'It doesn't matter, because you don't need him to like you.'

'Yes I do! Or I can't be friends with all of Ichigo-kun's friends!'

'Why do you want to be friends with all of my friends?' Ichigo's face was a perfect example of confusion.

'Because otherwise we can't all be happy!'

'That's stupid! You don't have to be friends with them. Just stay friends with me and we'll all stay happy.' Ichigo had tried to say this matter of factly but his staged demeanour got lost half way through his speech and he ended in barely a mumble. Orihime caught every word.

The sun's rays turned even more orange in its intensity as it made contact with the horizon, preparing its farewell to the day.

Three boys, roughly 12 years in age hid themselves in the high, traitorous tree branches. They're eyes followed Orihime and her brilliant auburn hair, her companion was insignificant to the plan. They waited, enjoying the anticipation, and just as she was about to disappear from their sight the three boys simultaneously climbed their way down their individual tree trunks and stopped at a safe distance before deliberately dropping their concealment and landing on the floor.

The two smaller children spun their head round to look behind them at the sound of broken twigs under feet. Orihime's eyes widened in fear and recognition, she immediately, but subconsciously stood behind Ichigo, trying to stay out of sight. Ichigo lifted an eyebrow in confusion at his friend's strange manoeuvre, it turned swiftly into a scowl as he noticed the three boys slowly making their way towards him and his friend. Two of them were rather bulky while the third was slightly thinner, but they all had greyish blemished skin as though they hadn't eaten anything but greasy potatoes for years, their hair was unkempt and dirty, one of the boys even had a cigarette lodged behind his ear.

The sight of the three thugs slowly making their way towards Orihime and her friend got her tugging at Ichigo's sleeve frantically and with a few words she beckoned him to walk speedily away from them. Ichigo was decidedly confused, and became even more so with additional brushes of irritation when he realised that the three boys had begun to walk faster and faster towards himself and Orihime. The understanding this brought to Ichigo made him question Orihime insistently.

'Why are those boys chasing us Orihime?'

Orihime didn't reply, her mind completely focused on getting herself and her friend away from the very scary looking boys who had already previously chased after her before. Ichigo frowned again, not sitting well with the cumulative worry and silence. However, as the boys behind him picked up enough speed that Ichigo could only classify as running did he realise that he too was running, the anxiety present had grown to a level where he had to question his friend again but with a tone nearer to panic.

'Orihime! Why are those boys chasing us? And why are we running from them?'

At last Orihime replied, 'I don't know why Ichigo-kun! I didn't know why the first time either!'

'Wait a minute! They've chased you before? Like this?'

'Yes, but I got away from them before, so we can do it again this time too!' Suddenly Ichigo stopped running, and it was a few moments before Orihime had registered that he was behind her by several yards. 'Ichigo-kun! Don't stop running! Or they'll hurt you!'

Ichigo's face was livid with plain anger and resolution. 'I'm not going to run anymore. If they were going to do something to you, they're gonna have to get through me first! And I'm not going to let that happen!'

Orihime's eyes widened even more 'No Ichigo-kun it's dangerous!' her breath hitched as she saw the boys come closer.

'Just run away! Quickly! And call for help! I'll stop them from getting to you!' with one pleading look of concern, Orihime paid heed to his words and ran as much haste as her little 9 year old legs could allow.

Ichigo then turned to the running boys who had suddenly stopped in front of him and leered as though they just dragged a fish out of water and enjoyed watching it suffocate.

'Why are you running after us?' began Ichigo,

'Not after you orange chimp, we only want your girlfriend' replied one of the bulky boys. Ichigo bristled.

'She's **not** my girlfriend.' Ichigo's tone was one of mortified anger but his face blushed faintly.

'Then what's it to you what we do to her.'

Ichigo bristled again, 'Why are you after her?'

'Hmm' began the other bulky boy who had a cigarette behind his ear. 'I think we're done talking, move out of the way tangerine.'

'No!' and to reinforce his meaning, Ichigo pushed the boy slightly, forcing him to step back a few steps.

The three boys smiled and chuckled slightly at the meagre act.

'Oooh! Little boy has a tough act!' the three bullies rallied around Ichigo, who was feeling some strain of fear but he still stood his ground.

'I think we need to teach this punk wannabe how to respect his elders!' declared the skinnier boy with a swaggering step towards his target, 'I'll deal with him, you to go and get the girl and wait until I'm finished with this rat.'

Ichigo had had enough and in a fit of adrenaline fuelled anger, he propelled himself into his skinny opponent and pushed him to the ground, using as many punches as he could throw at him. Ichigo was using his fists without pause and had adequate thinking power to feel slightly proud of himself for successfully keeping down an enemy who was older than him. Unfortunately Ichigo's period of courageous energy had made him forget about his bigger problems. One of those problems squarely hit him in the face.

Ichigo recoiled from the force and fell to his knees on the ground.

'What were you waiting for Kyo!' shouted the skinner boy who was currently making an effort to get to his feet.

'Sorry Izu, we got shocked for a minute.' Said the bulkier boy called Kyo; who now looked slightly sheepish at his misguided attention.

'Then stop being shocked next time!' yelled Izu; growing in his anger, but he didn't have enough time to be angry, or do anything else, because the next thing he knew he had been pelted to the floor again by a blur of orange. But unlike the first time, Ichigo was halted in his attack by Izu's bulky cronies.

'This kid doesn't learn, does he.' Said Kyo; wiping a bleeding lip and staring at a restrained Ichigo.

'I won't let you even touch her!' growled Ichigo, struggling against the strong fists keeping him down.

Izu gave Ichigo a small cocky grin, tormenting his captive enemy with its possible meanings. 'Don't worry, I'll take good care of her.'

The next thing Ichigo knew, he was being kicked on all sides, he couldn't even comprehend the pain because the blows happened in such speedy succession. Trying to think of a strategy to prevent them from getting to Orihime, he managed to shock his attackers by lunging for one of their legs. Ichigo's semi conscious form didn't know who it belonged to, all he knew was that he needed to afflict it with as much damage as possible. Without further ado and with no other thought but desperation to protect his friend, he bit the leg with all the might of his mandible muscles. The accompanying howl of pain came from Izu, who tried to pull his leg unsuccessfully from the smaller boy's tenacious bite.

Ichigo's teeth sank into Izu's leg like a hungry Parana, he wouldn't let go despite the thrashing force of Izu's frantically kicking leg that made Ichigo's head look like a rag doll being shaken to shreds.

'AAARGH! Kyo! Takou! Get this bloody piece of shit off me!' growled Izu in equal proportions of anger, pain and demand. Kyo and Takou had been consistently kicking every inch of Ichigo they could attend to, but at their leader's instructions they quickly deserted their kicking and instead tried to pry Ichigo off Izu's leg. Ichigo persevered and hung on even tighter with his arms grabbing Izu's ankle and sinking his teeth as far as they would go.

'DO SOMETHING!'stormed Izu in agonizing pain. Ichigo was relieved when he felt the two thugs leave his shoulders, the pressure of their hands no longer around his neck.

'Grab that thing! We can use that!' said one to the other.

'Isn't that going to get us into trouble?'

'Na, it won't kill him.' Before Ichigo could wonder what it was that the two thug-like boys were discussing, there was a whooshing sound as though something was being thrown down and then Ichigo was screaming in pain.

He reflexively let go of his strong bite as he roared in absolute pain, he rolled over and immediately clutched his bleeding leg which was when he noticed a heavy looking broken tree branch in Takou's hands.

'I've had enough of this crap!' growled a highly irritated Izu, who snarled and kicked Ichigo's bad leg. Ichigo didn't allow himself to moan in pain and instead shut his eyes to ride it out. After the silence that came, Ichigo was horrified to find that the three bullies no longer stood in front of him and had instead headed in Orihime's direction.

….

Orihime had run as fast as she could, but the forest was so wide and large that she knew she was nowhere near the edge of it or closer to safety. She had paused a few times in her run and simply stood pondering if she should return back to help her friend who she was impossibly worried about. Was he okay? Was he fighting? Was he hurt? The questions soaring around her head were endless. But eventually she would replay Ichigo-kun's last words he said to her and she would keep running.

Half of the sun had set, the orange rays were slowly dying.

Suddenly someone had grabbed a fistful of her hair and roughly pulled her into their chest. Orihime's arms reached up to loosen the tight grip at her hair, her face was screwed up at the sharp pain she felt at her captor's ruthless tugs that she didn't get an opportunity to see the person's face, despite already knowing who it belonged to.

'Look at my leg! Look at it bitch!' Orihime peeked her eyes open, which were tearing with the pain. She found herself barely three inches away from Izu's dirty livid face. 'Don't look at me, look at what your boyfriend did to my leg!'

She looked down and found the deep imprint of teeth marks in his right leg and she gasped from the blood oozing from it. She returned frightful eyes back to his face.

'I-I'm s-sorry, but p-please let go my h-hair now.' She pleaded, tears welling up between her eyelids from the increased grip Izu had on her hair.

'No, because you don't understand that this is actually all your fault.'

'M-my fault?' she asked tremblingly in confusion.

'Yeah, it's all your fault, aren't you ashamed?'

'H-how is it my fault?'

'It's this disgusting hair of yours! If you weren't born with it then none of this would have happened now would it?'

'B-but I can't help th-that. Oww!' he had pulled on her hair even tighter that some strands were being pulled out from her scalp.

'It doesn't matter anymore, cus we're going to sort all of that out right now.' Instead of fear the first feeling she felt was relief because he had suddenly released her hair.

'Grab her,' ordered Izu, and immediately Kyo and Takou captured Orihime and forced her to her knees. Her eyes widened in exceptional anxiety as she saw Izu take out a pair of metal scissors from his jeans pocket, a malevolent grin on his face. She flinched when his hand reached out to stroke her hair.

'Hehe, it sure is soft and long... Too bad.' He said. Orihime struggled with all her might at the two pairs of strong arms restraining her from safety, but all the struggling and striving she did prevented nothing for the sinister scissors from bashing down on her head and snipping away her long hair.

Orihime had started crying at the beginning and tried to ignore the awful sound and feel of her hair being slowly snipped away, the comforting weight decreasing. The three boys taunted her and laughed at her uglier appearance while cruelly stomping on the cut hair that fell to the floor. The silence ensued from her while all the torturing happened seemed to annoy Izu, and suddenly he resumed his tight grip on her hair.

'It's no fun if your only crying ya know.' He said and proceeded to brutally bring the metal scissors down on her head, causing indents and subsequent bleeding at the tender skin of her scalp.

And Orihime screamed her sorrowful pain out to the dying sunset.

She did not stop.

…

Ichigo limped as fast as he could in the wake of his now sworn enemies, his heart was speeding and all he could hear was the thumping of his pulse which drowned out the sound of the breaking twigs under his feet. Ichigo didn't care about the massive swelling of his leg, or the unbearable pain he felt at every instance when he allowed his weight to briefly fall on it. He could only worry for Orihime and blame his incompetence at protecting her. How could he have let this happen? How could he have been so stupid to have let himself be wide open to attacks. He should have bitten Izu's leg off.

Ichigo suddenly halted when he heard the definite sound of a scream, and he was completely harrowed to discern that the scream's owner was undeniably Orihime. There was no doubt as to what was to be done. He ran, forgetting his bad leg and not caring if the rest of his bones shattered from his exertion. He had to save Orihime. Fortunately, he managed to reach the bitter scene within five minutes by the morbidly guiding aid of Orihime's screams.

Twilight had begun.

As soon as he saw what had been happening he flew into a rage that turned him beet red with blinding anger and lunged for those holding Orihime.

'Get your hands off her!' Izu stood quietly waiting for Ichigo to be gradually subdued until he would resume his attack again. But the task was proving difficult as Ichigo wormed his way out of Kyo and Takou's grasps and managed to stand in front of his friend, free from restraints.

'Ichigo-kun,' Orihime sniffled while her hands clung to the back of his shirt.

'It's okay Orihime, let me deal with these bad people and then we'll go home.' Orihime just held onto him tighter. It happened faster than anyone could see, Ichigo was propelled away from Orihime by Kyo who wrestled him to the ground and made him immobile by sitting on Ichigo's back; preventing him from standing up or moving at all.

'Let me go!' demanded Ichigo, but Izu just chuckled cruelly.

'You must be as stupid as you look to think we'll do what you say.' Ichigo just glared and continued to wriggle and squirm. Izu made his way over to Orihime who was now being withheld by Takou alone.

'Don't touch her!'

'Hehe too late, I already have.' Ichigo ground his teeth in rife anger, which suddenly boiled over when he saw Izu lift a strand of Orihime's precious hair and pull it taut; causing her head to jerk forward and her eyes to scramble up in pain. Ichigo was going mad, he moved as much as he could and fought with every fibre in his body to get the heavy weight off his back. The sound of the snipping scissors was engraved into his brain and he thought of nothing else while he eventually pinched his enemy off of him.

'LET HER GO!' demanded Ichigo, his face was saturated in raw angst and his eyes darkened dangerously. The completed visage was enough to have scared anybody, as it did for Ichigo's current enemies.

'Make me.' Replied Izu in a would-be casual tone whose hint of fear did not go unmissed. Without a second thought, Ichigo ran towards Izu and pounded him with as much strength in his ten year old body. Orihime called out to Ichigo, shaken by his display of violent intent, but he did not hear her. At the fall of his leader and friend, Takou had fled with Kyo, leaving Izu alone to fight Ichigo. Izu had shown more control in his counter attacks but was fast losing endurance to Ichigo's consistently energy packed advances, despite their amateur nature. Eventually, a panting Izu; complete with bruised eye and bleeding lip, conceded defeat. He spat at Ichigo's shoes, got up and ran away.

The last of twilight's violet rays had disappeared with the sound of Izu's running footsteps, leaving the sky completely covered in inky blue darkness.

It took a while for Ichigo to calm down, his hands were shaking and his knuckles were soar; some were bleeding. Soon, the sound of sniffles and sobs caught his ear and he turned around to see his friend on the floor crying, her tears falling over her cut hair that was sprawled disgracefully on the floor. The problem was that with her hands in her face, Orihime didn't look like Orihime at all, her incredibly shortened and irregularly cut hair had managed to transform her into a vision Ichigo didn't know. Slowly, Ichigo approached her and sat down on the ground in front of her, after a few moments he felt awkward and didn't really know what to do. Even when his sisters cried he didn't deal with it, it was usually his mum, but Ichigo remembered painfully that his mum couldn't do that anymore.

After a few more moments of deliberating, Ichigo tremblingly reached up to her hands and pulled them away from her face. Tear tracks were evident on her cheeks, her eyes were puffy, red, blood shot and frozen in fright.

'Are-' he swallowed 'are you okay?'

Orihime blinked and looked down to her wrists which were held gently in Ichigo's. She then looked up to his eyes that were glazed with guilt and worry, but averted her gaze to her former gloriously long hair, now splattered on the ground.

'They cut my hair,' she said quietly, almost in shock. Ichigo didn't know what to say, his eyes roved over her head and noticed a single lock of hair that had been spared.

'They didn't get it all.' And he lifted the last strand and moved it so she could see it. 'See?'

She remained silent, her mind unable to formulate a single thought, that was until she saw Ichigo's red knuckles. Instantly she released her wrists from Ichigo's grasp, causing him to look a little hurt, but the look instantly disappeared and was replaced by anticipation when she held his hands in her own and brought them to her eyes for closer inspection.

'You're hurt' said she quietly, gracing her finger tips over his knuckles.

'Bah! This is nothing! I nearly had my leg snapped in half by a snake at the zoo!' replied Ichigo with bravado but he was still nervous at her direct touch. 'I'm really really sorry Orihime, I wish I could have protected you better. I wish your hair didn't get cut.'

Her eyes moved slowly from his hands to his bruised face. The piercing intensity of her gaze shook Ichigo and all of a sudden he felt entirely powerless. 'Thank you Ichigo-kun, thank you for saving me.' she whispered quietly. Ichigo didn't know how to respond and was almost thankful when she noticed his elephant like leg that had been previously injured but which was now swollen to its limit. 'Ichigo-kun what happened to you leg?'

As soon as she had uttered her question, the leg's pain and reminder of its abuse made itself very known to Ichigo and he winced pitifully. 'It got hurt, one of those boys hit it with a branch.'

'Oh no Ichigo-kun!'

'It was a really big tree branch too!' added Ichigo, childishly enjoying her attention on him.

…..

Together Ichigo and Orihime made their way slowly back home, each nervous at the telling off they were surely going to be given. Orihime allowed Ichigo to put his arm around her shoulder and lean his weight on her, but Ichigo was not comfortable with the idea of burdening her, so he took a random tree branch from the floor and used it as a walking stick. It was a quiet journey home, the ordeal she had experience had robbed her of her cheerfulness, leaving only a shell of her former self, which worried Ichigo excessively. When they had finally reached their street, Ichigo walked Orihime to her door and said goodnight, trying to make her talk a little, he was glad to get a small 'goodnight' back.

When he knocked on his house door for entry, his dad met him with a hug of relief and a subsequent punch as punishment for getting home late. But when Isshin noticed the swelling of his leg, he quickly grew serious and demanded answers for his rapidly asked questions while he grabbed his keys and coat; heading with his son for the hospital to get him an X-ray. Ichigo stayed quiet for a while deliberating on what to do, but quickly opened up and explained all that had happened that night.

….

Orihime was a complete wreck on her way home, she knew Ichigo was worried about her, but was unable to reassure him when the only thing she thought was how she was going to tell her brother. She didn't want to worry him, he had enough to deal with that she didn't want to add to his troubles. She gulped when an anxious Sora opened the door, she kept her eyes to her toes when she noticed his eyes widen in shock at her hair. He immediately dragged her into the house and sat her down.

'Orihime, what happened?' Orihime fidgeted.

'Nothing happened.'

'That's nonsense, don't lie to me. You know you can't anyway.'

Orihime looked at her brother and was kindly rewarded with a soft smile and opened arms waiting for her to hug him. She propelled herself into his chest and cried for a very long time before she explained in truthful detail all that had happened to her.

….

Sora was beyond livid. He had not expected such horrendous behaviour to occur in their quiet neighbourhood, which was one of the reasons why he had moved to Karakura. With the meagre details Orihime had provided him about the boys that had dared touch her hair, he decided he would find out who the parents of the boys belonged to and settle the matter. By the time Orihime had finished telling her story, she had fallen asleep, fatigued by her own tears, and he put her to bed thinking he would have to take her to a hair dresser soon.

The next day, Sora had made some enquires and quickly discovered who the three boys were, it seemed they were the usual ones who caused trouble in the town. The townsmen warned him not to visit the parents, as it would give no benefit. Sora could not believe them and instead went against their advise. When he had called upon Izu's mother he was shocked to find her somewhat intoxicated, her eyes were red and unfocused, she was pale skinned but it had a decidedly unhealthy yellow hue to it, her breath smelt of tobacco and alcohol, just by skimming around the untidy living room Sora noticed one too many empty bottles of cheap spirits, the strange thing was the she did not have slurred speech or an unbalanced gait as a normal drunk would have.

Sora decided to ignore these dislikeable occurrences and instead began talking straight to the point about his sister's sad circumstances which were a result of Izu's cruel behaviour. The mother seemed to not really care or pay much attention to her clean visitor. And when he finished his complaining speech, she took out a cigarette, lit it and inhaled a puff. Judging by the smell of the smoke; Sora wasn't so sure it was a normal cigarette. There was silence for a very long time until Sora politely pressed her for an answer, that was when she made some demeaning remark about how she couldn't give a damn about what her son did. Sora grew livid again wanting to slap her with colourful words of her poor parenting. Instead, he simply leaved the house. He knew from then that there was no point in visiting the other two boys' mother (he had found out that Takou and Kyo where brothers). There was nothing left for him to do but make a final painful decision.

…

Ichigo tried visiting Orihime the day after the incident, he was unfortunately impeded by his plastered leg and crutches, but he couldn't wait to tell Orihime he had broken it. It wasn't Orihime he saw when the door was opened, but her very tall brother who made quick excuses for Orihime; saying she was tired and wanted to stay indoors for the day. Ichigo left without argument and came again the next day, again her brother opened the door but instead of giving excuses, he stated clearly that he did not want Orihime playing in the woods anymore. Ichigo took the hint and left. On the third day Ichigo attempted to climb Orihime's window, but discovered it wouldn't be so wise to do while dependent on crutches. So he did the formal thing and knocked on the door again. This time, Orihime and Sora were at the door to greet him but he was pleased to see that Orihime's hair had had an obvious trip to the hairdresser. Orihime's brother finally allowed Ichigo to play with Orihime in their garden while he went to work. Ichigo had asked for Orihime to sign his cast which she agreed to do by getting a pen, but he was mindful to not mention that he had prevented others from writing on it so she could be the first one to.

Ichigo was very happy for this change in routine, but grew quickly anxious when he noticed Orihime wouldn't speak to him. She did not try to avoid him; she did make eye contact, even though her eyes were usually downcast and she did motion to things she found interesting in the garden with her hands. She had instead completely stopped speaking, no sound came from her throat and not once did her mouth open. Ichigo naturally questioned her about it, but got no response, which quickly irritated him and soon enough he couldn't tolerate the lack of her bubbly voice, so he quickly left the garden and house.

Ichigo turned up at her house again the next day, thankfully it was just Orihime who opened the door, and though she did not say anything to him, she graced him with a bright smile, showing him how happy she was that he still came to see her. Ichigo only then started to feel guilty at the abrupt way he left her the day before and he apologised to her again, Orihime just shook her head and waved his guilt away.

This quiet but mobile behaviour stayed with Orihime a few days more and Ichigo tried his hardest not to show her how difficult it was for him to deal with. When he had gone home that day he decided upon a plan that would get Orihime to talk to him.

…

The next few days proved difficult for Orihime as they were definitely lacking in Ichigo-kun's constant presence. She would gaze out the window in the direction of his house, hoping she would see him making his way towards her own house, but it never happened. She had spotted him one morning leaving his house, but instead of stomping on his crutches towards her; he would move as fast as possible into the forest that was forbidden to her. She sighed in sadness and sank in her seat on the window sill, hugging her only teddy bear to her chest, and wondered what fun he must be having without her.

….

On the seventh day of Orihime's strike on speech, Ichigo finally called upon her in the early afternoon. She smiled brilliantly at him when he came to the door, obviously very happy he came to see her again.

'Hi Orihime!' Ichigo greeted, it was also evident on his face that he was happy to see her again. Orihime waved at him in a bid to return his greeting, she then motioned for him to come into her kitchen where there was a plate of cookies available for their stomachs.

'Erm, well, I was hoping that instead of coming inside your house you could come out with me to the woods.' Orihime's smile slid off her face, she was suddenly gripped by uncertainty, she wanted to go out but her brother had made it clear that she was banned from the forest… among other things. She looked at Ichigo, her eyes pleading with him to not make her make this decision.

'I know your brother said you're not allowed to, but it will only be for a really short time. I just want to show you something.' Orihime gave one final glance at the kitchen, but then looked back at Ichigo's hopeful face and grabbed her house key; ready to go with him.

The journey into the forest was one she hadn't taken before. It was longer than the trip to the secret tree house, she trusted her friend enough to know he wouldn't take he any place strange, but at the same time the unfamiliar landscape worried her. Ichigo noticed her anxiety and held her hand in a bid of encouragement which she graced with a small smile.

They walked a little further until the heavily clumped trees opened up into a wide, beautiful clearing that was covered in lush grass. A few antlers were present, indicating the presence of grazing dears in the forest and a man-made swing with a large tyre was fixed to one of the high tree branches. There was also a precariously built little hut on one side of the clearing.

'I hope you like it.' Said Ichigo bashfully, and Orihime diverted her gaze towards him to nod her head enthusiastically. 'That's good because… err… uh.. erm, maybe you could… err…' Ichigo was uncharacteristically stumbling over his words and blushing faintly, he could barely manage eye contact with a very confused Orihime. Eventually he took a deep breath in and spoke. 'I'm really really sorry for letting the bad kids get to you. I-I promise it will never happen again! I'll never let any bad people hurt you. I want to take care of you, I really do, I want to take care of you for my whole life! So I made this meadow for you to forgive me and to ask if you want to speak to me again.' Ichigo had been looking studiously at his feet for the whole duration of his bumbling speech, he was afraid to look up and see the response in her face but he needn't have moved his eyes at all, because the next thing he knew, Orihime had wrapped her arms around his waist and hugged all the breath out of his lungs. He was about to make his breathless known to her when he was stopped by the sound of sobs.

'I'm sorry I-Ichigo-kun, b-but Onii-chan says we're moving away in three days!'

**Dessa's Note: Be grateful for this cliffy! I was going to make it worse If anyone was interested, yellow skin is a pretty good sign of Jaundice which in turn is a sign of liver failure which is caused by excessive alcohol drinking and other things (like drug abuse). On a happier note, I'd really really like to thank Chuchootrain, BaS23, it0takes0skills0to0be0me, The0Blind0Writer, Forkman77, broken soul and broken me, Bullet2tm, nupsy, Orange-eesshh, Alice Althea, Trapped in Wonderland and Hyouno joo. THANK YOU for giving me the motivation needed to get this chapter written. **


	5. Chapter 5

**Dessa's note: It is finally posted! Omg it's finally posted! Enjoy. **

Chapter 5

It had been the first words she had uttered in days, her voice was throaty and dry from disuse. Ichigo was swept by an unbelievable relief from hearing the sound of her voice, the vibrations of the sounds even the intonation of sadness, but he was thrown into a treacherous ditch of despair by the meaning of her words.

'No!' uttered Ichigo in stubborn denial, Orihime remained crying on his shoulder not able to confirm his denial. 'You can't be leaving! You just got here!'

'But I have to.'

'Why? Why do you have to leave?'

'Onii-chan… Onii-chan says it's not safe for me to- to stay here.' Croaked Orihime, her voice moisturised by her tears. Ichigo stayed quiet, comprehending her words, her brother was probably right, but Ichigo still tried to find a loop hole at which to argue at.

'I can protect you.'

Orihime smiled through her tears. 'Thank you Ichigo-kun, but-'

'Please stay, Orihime' interrupted Ichigo, drawing away from her and looking directly into her tear glazed eyes.

'I-I can't Ichigo-kun, I have to go with Onii-chan.' Orihime cast her eyes down, looking solemnly at the ground, missing Ichigo's miserable face. There was a strong, tense silence for several minutes until it was broken by Orihime's small voice.

'I'll never forget you.' This seemed to snap Ichigo out of the depressive trance he had fallen into from her first words. Now he was tumbling in panic. 'And maybe I can write letters to you?'

Ichigo felt gripped by an unmistakable feeling of dread, he had to do something! Something that could make her stay. Unfortunately his brain wasn't creating a plausible plan that could override Orihime's tall brother's decision. Instead he would have to do something that made sure Orihime was tied to him, something that would make her come back and something that would make him go to her.

'Marry me.' The words were out of his mouth before the blush reached his face.

Orihime's eyes widened to impossible proportions and spluttered incoherently. 'Wha-w-w-what?'

'Marry me.' Said he with the same level of firm conviction but a heavier blush. His eyes showed no hint of hesitation, only a strong resolve.

'Bu-but we're too young to get ma-married.' Reasoned Orihime, the shock of his proposal finally numbing her.

Ichigo thought for a moment, trying to work around the logic of her statement, 'We can have a pretend-wedding then do the proper one when we grow up.'

Orihime looked hesitant, fiddling with her fingers while her eyes resumed their staring at the grassy ground, 'I-I don't know Ichigo…'

Ichigo's resolve was now replaced with misery, 'Do… Do you not want to?'

Orihime's head moved immediately to face him. 'No, of course I want to…' she blushed heavily when she comprehended what she had just said. To hide her burning cheeks she again stared at the ground. 'Bu-But don't people marry when they l-l-love each other?'

If she had gained the courage to turn her face up and look at Ichigo while she had spoken, she would have been shown a look of utter disgust, as though she had just said something related to manure.

Despite Ichigo's moment of grotesque dislike he managed to reply back to her. 'Yeah, but I want to marry you so I can take care of you.' Orihime's blush darkened. 'I already told you I'll protect you, if we get married then I can protect you all the time.' Orihime managed to look at him directly now; gracing him with a small smile and the sight of crooked missing teeth. 'S-s-so will you umm… will you marry me?'

Orihime's smile grew while she nodded her head bashfully, 'O-okay.' Ichigo's resulting smile managed to throw the sorrow that had grown since she heard her brother's fateful words out of her heart. 'But how are we going to do it? I'm only staying here for three days more.'

'Don't worry, we'll figure something out.' He huffed and sat carefully on the meadow ground, taking care with his broken leg and exhausted by his emotions. Orihime took his example and sat down next to him, drawing her knees up and staring quietly ahead of herself.

'Ichigo-kun.'

'Yeah?'

'On the wedding day… can I wear a white dress?'

'Yeah sure.'

'Can I have some flowers too?'

'Okay, but not daffodils, something else.'

'Okay.'

They sat in silence for a little while longer. Ichigo thinking hard, while Orihime sat serenely, the fatigue that sometimes accompanies relief after long periods of distress caught up on her like a running steam engine and she was compelled to rest her head on Ichigo's tempting shoulder. When she woke up she was in her own bedroom and wondered if everything she heard was a dream.

...

Her brother entered her bedroom shortly after she woke up, he grinned down at her with evident happiness, pleased that she was finally awake.

'It's good to have you back sleepy head' he lightly knocked her forehead with his knuckles playfully. She smiled in reply.

'What time is it?' she was confused by the strong afternoon sunlight, surely it should have been morning?

'So Ichigo-kun was right after all. It's great to hear your voice again.' And he smiled in relief, kissing her forehead.

'Eh? Ichigo-kun was here?'

'Of course, he brought you home while you were still asleep even with his broken leg. Said he didn't want to wake you.' Her brother frowned slightly in disapproval.

'Then it wasn't all just a dream?'

'What wasn't all just a dream?'

'Ichigo-kun asking me to marry him!' Needless to say, her brother was shocked into speechlessness. 'I'm so happy it's not a dream! We'll get married and live happily ever after!' Orihime clasped her hands together and brought them under her chin, swaying in bliss with a dreamy smile plastered on her face. 'We'll get married and live in a cottage and have 16 children!'

'N-n-now wait one moment!' said Sora urgently, finally roused from his knocked out state. He was completely disinclined to the idea of his baby sister be taken away from him and disliked the hastiness at which this immaturity had taken. 'Orihime, you're too young to get married, it's against the law.'

'I know I'm too young Onii-chan, that's why we're going to have a pretend one first then get proper married when we grow up.'

Sora frowned ever so slightly, 'Orihime, how do you know you'll even want to in the future?'

For the first time, Orihime's smile slipped off her face to be replaced by one of distressed confusion. 'B-but, Ichigo-kun is my friend, he said he wants to protect me.'

'Orihime, listen to me very carefully. You can't just marry anyone you want to. It's not something to take lightly, it is a responsibility between two people who care very much about each other and for each other. Sometimes even if you like someone very very much you can't always be with them.'

'Why Onii-chan?'

Sora sighed and stroked Orihime's hair 'because of other responsibilities.' Orihime looked puzzled while she tried to interpret her brother's behaviour, Sora took pity on her and resumed the life lesson he thought he wouldn't have to had give her till much much much further in the future. 'And other things, like if he's working enough to provide for a wife, if he's a good man, his attitudes towards children, what his morals are and so on… The point is Orihime, you have to be very serious when choosing who to marry, even if you like him very much, he might not be the right person, he might make you good or make you bad. So in the future when you do get married, be very careful when choosing. Okay?'

After speaking his final words, Sora turned to give a deep scrutinising look at his younger sister, as expected Orihime looked decidedly confused, as though the conversation had reached a maturity level far beyond her years, which incidentally, it had. 'O-okay,' she said slowly... still trying to grasp all that had been said to her. 'But... but... can I pretend marry Ichigo-kun?'

Her brother smiled, 'Orihime, you can pretend to do anything you like!' This seemed to be sufficient permission and Orihime graced her brother with the tightest hug she could muster.

'Thank you so much Onii-Chan!' she gave him kiss on his cheek and ran to get out of the house.

'Where are you going?' called Sora after his bouncing sister who was rapidly climbing down the stairs.

'I'm going to see Ichigo-kun to tell him the good news!' Sora, far from being worried, just grinned, not worried that the youthful exuberance of his sister's supposed love affair wouldn't fade once they left Karakura.

Orihime made it to next door within thirty seconds, but was only faced with disappointment when informed by Ichigo-kun's father that her friend was not at home and to try again tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile Ichigo himself had wasted no time in consulting his friends of his plan, much to his surprise, his friends were shocked.

'We're getting married and that's that!' declared Ichigo, ignoring the stunned looks on his friend's faces. Ichigo fidgeted slightly with the ensuing silence, 'And you're going to help me do it!' still there was only astonishment in the air, slowly but surely the brows on his face grew unbelievably close until he broke, 'GAAH! Say something!'

Finally the tenuous tension had cracked and the first one to be roused into concrete alarm was Mizuiro 'Are you CRAZY?' yet again, Ichigo was taken aback. 'You can't get married! You're too young for that!'

'H-hey hey calm down, it's only for pretend, then we'll do it properly when we grow up.'

'And how do you know you won't change your mind then?' was Suzuki's softly spoken question.

Ichigo looked confused 'Change my mind?' he frowned deeply, in concentration. 'Why would I?' Suzuki frowned.

'Well, Orihime's not the only fish in the sea.' replied he.

'Orihime's not a fish! And anyway, I'm not changing my mind, I'm marrying her now and in the future whatever you lot say!'

'Are you CRAZY?' echoed Keigo, 'Remember the "Never Get Married" pack? That was you're idea! How can you break your own rule?'

'I made that rule, so I can do whatever I want with it.' Stated Ichigo arrogantly.

'No you can't! You have to pay the consequences like everyone else!' said Yamada with passion.

Ichigo started to look worried. 'No I don't! I have the power to break the rule because I made it!'

'You're forgetting that you didn't make it, we all agreed on it, and only because you forced us to!' replied Yamada.

Ichigo hesitated, 'Just because we all swore an oath doesn't mean that I don't have the power to break it!'

'It does too! And that means you have to face the consequences!' interjected Keigo dramatically.

Ichigo itched the back of his neck in hesitation, still trying to find an angle at which to argue at.

'Either you face the consequences, or not marry Orihime.' Said Yamada with finality.

'Yeah, what'll it be Ichigo?' prodded Keigo. Ichigo meanwhile was thinking hard… Not marry Orihime? Was it even an option? If he couldn't marry her, then how was he supposed to find her in the future when she would grow up? How would he be able to protect her? But if he did marry her, then he would have to face the consequences, which he knew for a fact, wouldn't be pretty.

'Or are you not man enough?' challenged Suzuki, snapping Ichigo out of his indecision by the slight to his manhood.

'Of course I'll do it! I'm man enough to do anything!' said Ichigo angrily. The declaration had cause varied responses in his supposed friends, Mizuiro looked impressed, Suzuki looked shocked, but Yamada and Keigo were looking excited and gave each other evil grins, 'Deal!' they replied in unison while Mizuiro and Suzuki remained lost for words.

The next morning, Orihime hastily made her way to her next door neighbour's house, she was greeted by a very energetic Isshin-san, who gave her a vibrating hand shake and welcomed her most fervently into his house. She then made her way to Ichigo who was busy plotting something on a large sheet of paper. She quietly sat next to him, he was so engrossed in his drawings that he hadn't even noticed her presence beside him.

'Whatcha doing Ichigo-kun?' her sudden question caught him off guard, and he startlingly closed all evidence of any graphic imagery he had been drawing. Upon seeing his mad scramble to hide what he was drawing, Orihime's curious escalated, 'What are you drawing?' she pressed.

Ichigo spared her a glance, originally he was absolutely resolute to conceal any trace of his papers. But Orihime's gentle but avid look of eager curiosity broke his resolve line a fallen tonne of bricks. He sighed, 'It's my plans.'

'Plans for what?'

'The consequences.' Replied Ichigo darkly.

'Consequences? What consequences?' Ichigo sighed again and then proceeded to explain to Orihime the pact he had made in his moment of fevered detest of the female species.

'But- but that means you have to break the pact!' uttered Orihime in a broken voice, utterly devastated.

'Yeah, can't be helped.'

'But but because of me... you have to pay the consequences now!'

'Yeah... it's got to be done' Ichigo shrugged his shoulders as he said it, trying to hide his fear.

'So-so is that why you were drawing?'

'They're my plans of action.' Said Ichigo resignedly, unrolling the papers out for Orihime to see. They were filled with scribbles, crossed out spelling mistakes and an unreadable maze of flow charts in what looked like the poor construction of a house.

'Whose house is this?'

Ichigo swallowed, 'Yours'

Orihime's eyes widened, 'M-my house?' Ichigo nodded, 'Ichigo-kun.. what are the consequences?'

Ichigo thought back to the words his friends said as they declared the formidable consequences, it was to be the ultimate test of courage, skill and most importantly... manliness.

'To put Ketchup in your brother's shoes.' Orihime's eyes grew beyond the boundaries of possible width.

'Wha-what?'

'They were going to make me jump from the tree house but they realised I couldn't because of my leg...' said Ichigo in a rush, trying to extricate forgiveness from Orihime without actually asking for it.

'You-you can't do it Ichigo-kun! You'll get in so much trouble! And then Onii-chan will be angry and he won't let me marry you in the future.'

'Don't worry, I'll ask him now so I don't have to do it again in the future.'

'What if he changes his mind in the future?'

'He won't, real men don't change their mind!' Orihime looked anxiously sceptical, but accepted nonetheless.

Ichigo then wasted no time in transporting himself to next door, Orihime by his side. On the start of his short journey he was full of bravado, but with every careful step he took, his nervousness mounted. When he was outside Orihime's brother's study Ichigo was downright sweating.

'O-Orihime... I-I'm a bit err... nervous.'

'Why are you nervous? Are you scared of Onii Chan?'

'Of course not!' declared Ichigo, his courage returning with his offended pride until it crashed with his resolution when he pushed the door open and came face to knee with Orihime's very tall brother.

'Ah Ichigo-kun, what are you doing here in? The living room is the other way.' Asked a confused Sora-san.

'Err- well.. umm, I actually came.. to err,' he glanced at Orihime who smiled back at him in encouragement. 'I came to umm, to talk to you.. Sir.'

Orihime's brother sighed and closed his eyes, it almost looked like he wanted to palm his face in irritation. However, he managed to look nonchalant and motioned for the two children to enter the room.

'So.. what did you want to talk to me about then?' asked Orihime's brother resignedly.

'Err well.. errmmm...' Ichigo started kneading the back of his neck, and started fidgeting on the spot. He was not the only one who was uncomfortable, Orihime's brother was fighting impatience on a hyperbolic level and wished for this conversation to be over as quickly as possible. Eventually, after much fidgeting, patient smiles from Orihime and a visibly annoyed Sora, Ichigo had blurted out 'I want to marry Orihime...' then realising his mistake he pressed on hastily, 'With your permission of course... err Sir.'

'And when exactly do you intend to marry my little sister?

'Wh-when... when I grow up.'

'Then come back to me when you grow up with a job, a house and enough money to sustain a family. Then I'll think about it.' To Sora's surprise, Ichigo cracked a wide grin, promised him to bring back even more qualifications for marrying his sister when he grew up and thanked him greatly. Shortly afterwards he exited the room with Orihime by his side. Sora relaxed in his chair and tilted his head up staring at the ceiling, he smiled slightly reminiscing on long since buried memories.

'This is great Orihime!'

'But Ichigo-kun, Onii-chan said he'd think about it..'

'Don't worry, I'm going to be awesome when I grow up, he'll definitely say yes!'

'Oh... but..'

'Listen, I promise to do everything he said, okay? Then he can't say no.'

'A-alright..'

While the two children made their way out of the house, Ichigo surreptitiously tipped ketchup from a small bottle concealed in his jeans pocket into largest pair of shoes he could find.

Later that day Ichigo was pushing Orihime while she sat on the large tyre that had been tied by a very sturdy rope to an equally sturdy tree branch.

'Orihime.'

'Yes Ichigo-kun.'

'You're leaving the day after tomorrow right?'

'Yeah..' replied Orihime sadly.

'Then meet me here tomorrow. And bring the most precious possession with you.' Orihime frowned.

'What's a possession?'

'It's a thing that belongs to you.'

'Oh okay. But why do you want me to bring my most precious possession?'

'We will exchange them instead of rings.'

'Exchange?'

'It's a swap, so I give you my most precious thing and you give me yours, so we remember that we're going to be married to each other in the future.'

'Oh okay! So tomorrow we're pretend marrying?'

'Yeah.' Replied Ichigo, a slight smile on his face.

The next day, the highest point of the meadow had been decorated with a make shift altar made from long tree branches and a few summer flowers. Following this altar were around four chairs, all plastic and foldable. The groom wore his favourite Power ranger's T-shirt and usual jeans, it was obvious he had tried and failed to erase the mud patches on it. Mizuiro, who was voted the wisest as he had initially disagreed with the "Never get Married" pact, had been voted most qualified to act as registry and had taken the duty of drafting up a marriage contract complete with spelling mistakes. Mizuiro now stood proudly at the makeshift altar, the contract spread out in front of him with crinkles and grass stains as if it had been written on the ground.

Keigo and Yamada were ambitiously climbing the tyre-made-into swing and were competing against each other as to who could reach the tree's massive tree trunk first. Suzuki on the other hand stood solemnly by Ichigo's side, looking grave as if forced to attend a traumatic funeral.

'Ichigo, are you sure about this?'

'For the hundredth thousandth millionth time Suzuki! I've made up my mind and that's that.'

'I think you're making a big decision really really early Ichigo.'

'I don't care, I'm going to make it happen, I've decided and that's all that matters.'

'What if she changes her mind in the future? What if someone else wants to take her away and marry her?'

'Then I'll change her mind back,' replied back Ichigo without lacking any ounce of confidence, he failed to notice his friend glare slightly at him or the flared nostrils and deep breathing. Nevertheless, Suzuki remained silent for the rest of the proceedings. The bride came shortly afterwards, there was no drum roll, no grand music, not even a sound, yet she skipped happily down the aisle between the sparsely placed empty chairs. She wore the same dungaree Ichigo had first met her in and a piece of torn curtain dumped unceremoniously on the crown of her head, her periwinkle blue hairclips keeping it haphazardly in place.

She met Ichigo at the top of the altar who then fixed her home-made veil for her and smiled while he noticed the few summer flowers she held in her hand.

'Ready?' he asked.

'Yup!' declared Orihime, as though nothing else was more certain in the world.

'Very well.' Started Mizuiro in a rather posh voice. 'Let's begin.' He waved his hands to the empty chairs 'Dearly beloved', he gestured to the two boys climbing the rope that tied the heavy tyre to the tree branch, 'We are gathered here to today to join girl and boy in sacred matrimony'

Ichigo leaned forward, 'Psst Mizuiro,' Mizuiro glared back the his friend with the very unsacred interruption.

'What?' he strained to say through clenched teeth as though trying not to appear to talk yet still glaring down at Ichigo.

'It's sacred pretend matrimony remember!'

'What's matrimony?' peeped in Orihime.

'It means marriage.' Replied Ichigo.

'We are gathered here today!' began Mizuiro again in a louder more authoritative voice, 'To bring girl and boy in sacred pretend matrimony.' He glanced at the young couple, so far so good. 'It brings me great happiness to bind two kids together on this sunny day. We should all remember that matrimony is a special event because it keeps two people together forever and it lets you keep a dog without asking your Mum and Dad for permission. So, without further ado lets skips to the vows.' The couple shuffled their feet and lightly blushed. 'Do you Ichigo a.k.a Strawberry a.k.a Orange head..' from the thick tree branch Keigo and Yamada sniggered loudly, Ichigo scowled at Mizuiro, 'Promise to one day in the future take Orihime a.k.a "The Girl" and marry her?'

'Yeah.' Replied Ichigo shortly, looking at the ground and trying to rein in his blush.

'Then give her your most precious possession to seal the promise,' Ichigo slowly drew out his favourite original Gundam figurine and with shaking hands he handed it to Orihime, Orihime smiled and received it gratefully. 'And do you, Orihime a.k.a "The Girl", promise to one day in the future take Ichigo a.k...'

'I think she knows who I am!'

'Be quiet Ichigo, this is part of it.' Mizuiro sighed and continued, '.. take ichigo a.k.a Strawberry a.k.a Orange head and marry him?'

'Always!' replied Orihime enthusiastically.

'Then give him your most precious possession to seal the promise.' With equally shaky hands as her friend had, Orihime pulled out a handkerchief from her dungaree pocket, she unfolded the small cloth and there peacefully lay a long lock of auburn hair. The last lock that her tormentors failed to cut off.

'I asked the hairdresser if I could keep it.' She said quietly to Ichigo, her friend looked deeply into her eyes, it was unlike any other expression he had shown her, one she could not place a name on.

'With this I pronounce you promised to one day be man and wife.' The remaining boys clapped unenthusiastically, but only at Mizuiro's silent command, Suzuki's applause were particularly hard. Mizuiro then addressed himself to Ichigo, 'You may now Kiss the bride.' Ichigo's face went from profoundly moved to blushingly disgusted within a heartbeat.

'Never!' exclaimed Ichigo, paying no mind to Orihime's startled face. 'I'll never kiss a girl! Never ever ever!' Even Suzuki was taken aback.

'Sorry Ichigo, but rules are rules, this is how things are done.'

'You can't make me!'

'Can I kiss the groom?' enquired Orihime innocently.

'I guess so, it's the same thing right?' replied Mizuiro, Ichigo looked panicked as though he didn't know quite what to do.

'N-no... I don't... wanna!' But Orihime had already leaned up slightly on her toes and had quickly pecked her groom's cheek with a chaste kiss.

Even as they all signed the crumpled grass stained contract to prove that the pretend wedding had actually occurred, Ichigo was still silently blushing profusely.

They had one day left together, and like all other times when one desired time to slow down it automatically sped up. Before the young couple knew it Orihime was standing outside of her emptied house with Ichigo walking her to the car with the full boot and her brother sitting patiently in the driver's seat.

'I hope you get to write lots of stories when you grow up Orihime.'

'I hope so too, it would be fantastic, would you read them all?'

'I'd read all of them, even the really crazy ones.' Orihime giggled slightly, her short hair flowing easily in the light august wind. They stayed quiet for a little while, neither knowing what to say now that they had reached the car.

'I'll never forget you Ichigo-kun.' Ichigo had a shadow of the same panicked expression he wore when first hearing she would leave.

'I'll find you one day, even if you don't come back to Karakura.' Promised Ichigo.

Orihime smiled faintly, 'Can I write to you?'

'Yeah yeah definitely, we can be pen pals.'

'Pen pals?

'They're friends who write to each other.' This seemed to delight Orihime.

'Then we'll still be friends?'

'Of course we'll still be friends, just because we're apart doesn't mean we can't be friends.'

'That's… that's good then.' and Orihime gave him a smile that represented all her happiness yet strangely held a portion of sadness. Unfortunately, Orihime's tall brother called for his sister to step into the car; knowing the two children could stay standing forever... neither wanting to part.

'Well, Goodbye Ichigo-kun.'

'Yeah, Goodbye.' Neither moved.

'We'll see each other again one day.' Stated Orihime.

'Definitely!'

Orihime smiled again but this time she made a tiny move to step away, 'Goodbye Ichigo-kun.' And before Ichigo could utter another word she had stepped into the seat beside her brother, buckled herself into the seat and waved at him while the car revved and gained acceleration, finally moving down the street and out of sight. It was a very long time until the boy moved again, and it was only to go into his house, up to his room and start writing his first ever letter.

THE END

**Dessa's Note: yup, it's the end of this little story, but I have a sequal and another sequal after that all planned out. I just need to get it written, I promised 100% to actually write it and get it out to you all. Thank you all who have supported this short story, thank you very very much to those of you who reviewed me including Nypsy, Sulla, Hyou no joo, Alice Hattercandy, it0takes0skills0to0be0me, BaS23, Orange Supernova, MellowDeez and Killerqueen04. You all supply the motivation I so desperately needed. **


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